Cannabix Technologies which is trying to develop a breathalyzer that will detect THC

in the breath. There are others trying to do this, including private Hound Labs, but no one has yet created a working prototype that has been tried in real life as far as I can tell… and it’s not necessarily an easy task or a guaranteed win, since THC is not as clearly identifiable in the breath as alcohol. THC does show up in the breathalzyers models they’ve been developing for a couple hours after smoking, but we’re a ways from having evidence that would be likely to work in court that tells you a certain level constitutes “impairment.”

It’s surely intriguing, and driver safety is a major aspect of dealing with recreational marijuana, but I don’t know that science has solved things yet and I have no idea whether one of the emerging companies really has the “killer” patent for this technology. The company itself is indeed very small, trading at about $1.50 OTC in the US and with a $150 million market cap, but it’s really an R&D firm trying to develop a product at this point. I would not assume that the fact that there’s only one publicly traded company that’s a pure play on a particular attempt at a THC breathalyzer means that there’s only one company that can develop a breathalyzer (or similar instant test for marijuana intoxication). I imagine there are lots of folks working on this in labs elsewhere and have no idea whether Cannabix has a meaningful scientific or product development lead over anyone else.